Are You Here or There?
by Lollipoplit
Summary: But, alas, joy cannot be felt without grief just as grief cannot come to be without first knowing the warmth of happiness. And so, he is but a shell of the wild white roses that surround him, shuttering against harsh winds. Like the trump card of the deck, the High Priestess of the tarots, he sits behind a thin veil of awareness as the light falls in his solitary room. .


The snow fell silently outside Alice's window, unaware of what it was like just beyond the clouded glass barrier. Oblivious to how her fingers were slipping, unable to keep their grip on her vacating sanity. The walls she'd built began to bend; they threatened to break as her dammed up tears whispered against her pallid cheeks.

Curled in the darkest corner of her room, Alice put her headphones on and clenched her knees to her chest, beginning to rock back and forth in her safe position; she did her best to block out her parents' malicious screams.

Curses were popped like prescription painkillers from their mouths as they fought like animals just outside her door.

Alice glanced at the glowing hands of her clock- 2:00 A.M.

Four more hours to go.

Nothing was new though, every night she heard them berating and beating each other- every night she sent an silent prayer to God that that night would be the final night of her tears and the Devils in her life would fall back into hell.

Every night those prayers went unanswered until she drifted off into her dreaming world.

Four hours later, the first triangle of warm sunlight in months crept upon Alice's floor, reaching out to the corner where she remained curled in on herself, huddled in a sleeping ball.

One eyelid fluttered, followed by the next and soon her pretty icy eyes were blinking in the increasingly blinding light. Stiff bones and sore muscles creaked and cracked in protest as Alice straightened herself out and slowly rose to her feet.

Peaceful snores echoed in the hallways that had been filled with anger and apathy just hours before.

Alice clenched her fists to stop herself from screaming.

It bothered her to no end how her parents could go from slapping and screaming at each other to sleeping happily in the same bed so quickly.

"Good God, how do they do it?" She muttered in annoyance as she grabbed a plastic-tooth comb and yanked it through her long, choppy raven black hair, pulling tremendous amounts out with each tug.

She plunked the small piece of plastic onto her desk, finished getting ready for school, and strode through the front door.

The air outside was brutally cold for how sunny and nice it looked from behind the window pane.

Alice brought a smushed carton of cheap Marlboro cigarettes from the pocket of her leather jacket and stared blankly at it, her mind hiding the regret she was feeling for pilfering the paper packed poison from her mother's purse.

During the two-block walk to school, hunger grew inside her like a tumor, depriving Alice of the energy to force her frail knees to keep her upright and she stumbled, catching her foot in a pothole that threw her to the icy ground.

Alice lay there for a moment, winded; collecting herself, warm droplets began to roll down her cheeks.

Nothing was inside her, she was weak and she was tired of feeling like this. Nothing but toxic smoke had slid between her lips in weeks.

The ugly naked truth, the eyesore that stared her down in the mirror every day conspired with her scale and starved Alice of her youth daily.

Once high, strong cheekbones had sunken and her beautiful ice blue eyes were slowly turning into hollow pools of veined blood that couldn't focus on anything at all.

Just the ghost of the girl she'd been last year.

Fifteen, so kind and beautiful you'd think at first glance but the small, safe community she called home held a disgusting secret that had made her grasp for anything at all that she could control- whether it be what went into her stomach or what slid in and out of her lips.

Greenwood was a living hell for its picturesque youth; they were treated like toddlers while they were expected to behave like adults. Whilst nonsense was not tolerated there among the young, the misdeeds of the adults were waved like flags by anyone and everyone.

It didn't make much sense to Alice why the people in this tiny town were too blind to see that they weren't the only ones abusing the power to bestow fear into their children's minds. Or maybe they weren't blind at all? Maybe, throughout the warm trees and cobblestone paths, each family's parents knew the truth about one another. Maybe there were no secrets.

Then again, who would ever be able to say?

_Someone from outside must have found out though_, she thought as the thawing ice soaked into her clothing, _there's no other plausible explanation._

And there wasn't any other explanation, at least none that anybody had been able to prove- or even think of for that matter- to explain the mutilated bodies of neighbors that had been popping up, half buried, in the abandoned wind mill's once-gloriously green field.

Sirens wailed through the glacial winds of the night as they passed Alice's home while she rested in her bed, eyes wide open. It was an impossibility for her to sleep. Earlier, her parents had been screaming at each other with murderous intent. They fought often, but this time it had been different. Difficult to explain in words was the anger that was spewing from their mouths like vomit, it seemed like they would go at it all night…but then, suddenly, it was just silent. That never happened in Alice's house.

An image of Jason Voorhees' mask flashed in Alice's mind, making her quiver like a little bird in a gassed glass cage. She put her hands overtop her eyes- if she was to be butchered, she certainly didn't want to see it coming.

"'Twas brillig and the slithy toves did gyre and gimble in the wade…" A haunting, echoed voice sang. There was a knock on her bedroom door and she cringed at the following laughter. "Alice, oh, Alice, won't you let me in?"

But seconds passed before the doorknob began to spin and black boots slinked ever so slowly through the dark to her bedside.

"A-l-i-c-e, do you sleep?" the voice purred. "Well, it's time to wake up."

Bracing herself for the slice of flesh and the smell of her own crimson splatter, she waited. And waited. Finally, she opened one shuddering eyelid just for a peek.

Amidst the darkness, a statuesque figure cloaked in an even darker robe stared at her through eyeholes in a neon pink and purple mask, a crescent moon grin stretched across the surface.

Hairs prickled her neck as they stood up with a flush of heated fright.

"So you don't sleep, little Ms. Alice Liddell…or just Alice now, I guess, as the Liddell's are gone." The mad stranger took off his mask as she forced her eyes to open fully, curiosity matching with the fear that was sending shaky tendrils of sweat down her body.

A boy stood in front of her, one who couldn't be over twenty. High, strong cheekbones were accentuated by hair, bright pink with purple tips, that fell softly just above his shoulders and in the air around him as though it was shedding. The ears, sitting naturally, on his head did not come off with the mask itself and held many shining piercings. His eyes, slick with gold, shone much like a real feline's. Tight jeans clung to his willowy figure, safety pins hanging from the dark material. Black and white striped knee socks swallowed a good half portion of its waspish legs.

He grinned at Alice and did a theatrical bow, keeping his eyes on her. "Julius Cheshire. Very pleased to meet you again, Ms. Alice. Very, very pleased."

She just stared at him while he unbent himself and began to take off his cloak, revealing a white puffy canvas shirt.

A tail popped up as Julius threw his coat to the floor; it was colored very much like his hair and was also pierced in several places. A golden collar pressed tightly to his neck, connected to a very short chain of decaying coal.

Alice's stare shifted to the crumbling stone.

"You know, it's considered polite to introduce one's self after another introduces himself." Julius chastised with a disappointed look on his apple shaped face.

Alice pushed herself back, farther up in her bed- further away from "Julius Cheshire". "But you already know my name." she managed to squeeze out of her strangled throat.

"Well, yes, but if I hadn't-" he cut off his voice and began to look around the room until his glowing eyes fell on her old dusty grandfather clock. "Oh, dear, Alice, time is running short- this can't take too long. Make a choice now, please, on which side of the glass do you feel you belong?"

"Excuse me?"

"The side that isn't here, you say? Magnificent- let us be going then!" With a certainly Cheshire grin, Julius lunged at Alice with nails long and sharp enough to slice a ribbon in thin air and threw her over his shoulder.

A scream lurched from her throat in time for her heart to leap into it as he began to carry her across the room, to a scratched-up mirror that she had never seen before.

"One step, two step, three step, four. Now it's time to close the door to ev'ry little thing you've ever known." Julius sang as he picked up the piece of glass and shoved it into his pocket.

Such simple lyrics, and yet they seemed to have an enormous power over Alice's brain, as if she were being hypnotized, or maybe, it was the lovely lulling voice that sang the words.

It became a struggle to keep her throat on the task of trying to call out to her parents who weren't there, and to keep her eyes open to any invisible light was a herculean task.

Quite obviously, fighting to remain in her house was not an option and in the tiniest corner of her mind, Alice wondered if the sirens heard earlier that night had been originally for her little family.

Perhaps someone had called the police after seeing a disturbing Julius Cheshire lurking about?

_But if that had been the case, _she thought_, they would have been here by now._

Alice began struggling. She thrashed with her fists clenched, beating Cheshire's back and head and arms as hard as she could and screeching his ears.

She couldn't believe it when her screams didn't work- if he had ears as big as his, shouldn't his hearing be twice as sensitive?

"Alice, Alice…" Julius whined. "The Queen is raging- we really must get going!"

He put her down and wrangled both of her hands behind her back in one swift, fluid movement before she, once again, tried to bring it down against his soft head.

Alice froze as he pulled them hard in opposite directions.

The pain firing up in her shoulder blades was nauseating; she could very well nearly taste the bitterness of bile rise up her throat.

Something foreign to Alice possessed her to twist her head around and look at Julius, her mouth shriveled into a purse with pain.

His crescent moon smile was faded and the tensed look on his feline face was one of disappointment; with one long, pointed nail he tilted her chin up. Up, and up, and up until Alice was forced to look straight into his darkened, angry eyes. "You do not hear me, Alice. We are late. Later than the Rabbit, perhaps maybe even later than Hatter. Time is out; you don't belong here anymore- you said so yourself."

Alice jerked her head away, cutting her chin on his nail. "I never said anything of the sort!" she shrilled as warm maroon beads formed in a line on the tip of her chin.

Julius clucked his tongue and pulled a rounded case of Strike-Anywhere matches from his pocket with his free hand. He slid the top of the box open with his mouth and grabbed a dozen beige and black fire sticks out of it.

Dropping his little wooden box of potential arson, he flicked his tail forward and struck the wicks against it, igniting each of them in sync. "Silly, Alice, you didn't have to." One match dropped from his claws and hit a pair of dirty polyester pajamas that had been lying on Alice's floor, lighting it up in a sea of bright neon heat.

"There's nothing left for you here, Ali-c-e," Julius hissed as he grabbed his cloak from her floor and pulled a small spray bottle out from underneath it.

Alice's eyes widened like the full moon outside as he unscrewed the cap and whirled in a circle, splashing putrid scented liquid across the room, lolling down the sides of her walls, soaking into her bed and anything else that lay in its path.

"You were never meant for this, Alice, dear," Julius's tail dipped to the ground with his tone and wrapped around his box of matches, bringing it back up to him; he took another bunch out and whipped them across his jeans, igniting them all at once again. "Never meant to watch your house and parents burn-you were supposed to chase the White Rabbit…but"- he blew out a long, distant breath full of bitterness- "I couldn't let that brownnoser catch the prize again this year, now could I?"

It was all she could do to gape at the mad man standing in her bedroom and ask, "What are you talking…about…?"

A grin bloomed like the moon on his face while he flicked his wrist and sent matches flying in every direction, allowing the entire room to begin to deflagrate.

The flames swallowed everything the liquid had touched first, then slowly set onto the rest of all that Alice possessed.

Julius let go of Alice's arms and held his hand out to her, bowing slightly as if he were a toy soldier, at her command. "Will you stay in a pile of ashes, burnt bodies as your only companions, or will you come with me and play?" The fire crackled and snapped viciously at the two of them, slowly biting deeper and deeper into Julius' ankles. "The time to decide is now, Alice, dear."

The heat was blistering, crying for another meal as it finished gulping down the contents of Alice's poor room. It was all she could do to not let frightened sobs leap from her throat when the light fixture on her ceiling shattered from the heat and smashed to the ground, making a small barrier between Julius Cheshire and herself.

Julius's ears flattened against his head and he shielded his eyes, squirming under the pressure of the flames and the plangent crash.

No more than a few seconds passed before there was a spark in his irises and he grabbed Alice's hand. He twirled her into his arms as if they were in the middle of a party, dancing together, and flung his cloak over her head.

"I will not leave this place alone." Julius tightened his grip around Alice when she started to fight him once again as he hefted her up onto his hip like an infant, keeping her swaddled up.

The smoke was getting heavier, thicker. It was getting harder to breathe, tougher to see, as Julius withdrew the mirror from his pocket and searched calmly for the ruby corner that would get them both out of the sea of flames he had started.

"Already audaciously late." Julius muttered to himself as Alice began to go limp in his arms. "You better stay awake until we get there, or our heads will be the Queen's main plate."

But all fight was quickly draining out of Alice's mind and heart. She couldn't breathe; she couldn't even open her eyes. All that she wanted to do was lay her head down and fall into her own sleeping world, away from the unbearable heat surrounding her. Away from Julius Cheshire and whatever he was 'late' for.

There was an ear-splitting _crack_ as Julius found the small button of the ruby corner and jammed down on it with his fist, shattering a few of his claws. He squeezed Alice into his chest as the floor collapsed underneath them and the two fell from the deadly agonizing heat of the blaze.

The air was strikingly cold as they shot through the darkness.

Down, down, down; Alice could feel herself plunging.

She shivered through the heavy leather of Julius's cloak as she took massive breaths of oxygen. Lovely, pure oxygen- God, she'd missed it!

Alice relished in the comforting routine of breathing in and out; however, when she remembered what situation she was in, she shot that comforted, fluffy feeling down to hell and raised her guards.

Julius felt her stiffen in his arms and let out an amused purr. "Dearest Alice, calm your nerves- we're not yet at the palace."

Minutes passed in antsy silence, then, suddenly, Julius dropped Alice from his hip and enveloped her, chuckling. "Hold on, Miss Liddell!"

A hard, smooth surface hit Alice's feet head-on, sending ruthless rods of lightning through her legs. Alice's eyes squeezed tight as her knees collapsed and her body was forced to do a James Bond roll across the ground.

After ten counted seconds of spinning blackness and feeling like she would vomit, Alice opened her eyes to the polished white marble floor that had nearly broken her legs.

Julius sent her an irritatingly charming smile from above and offered his hand. "Are you in need of help, Ms. Alice?" not waiting for an answer, he slinked his arms around her waist and hoisted her to her feet.

Alice looked around the room in confusion; ruby chandeliers hung from above, threatening to fall on top of her at any moment. Blackened tapestries covered the walls and men dressed in uniforms with diamonds, hearts, spades, and clubs set in the middle of their chests stood side by side, shadowing the entire perimeter of the grand place with their swords at the ready.

In the middle of the room sat a monumental diamond encrusted crimson throne that stood on three emerald legs, seating a beautiful woman; shrouded in black curls of hair, she rested her chin on one white satin covered hand. Beside her, a man with white, splotchy bent-over bunny ears stood in a velveteen suit, holding a glamorous golden pocket watch in one hand.

"I say, Cheshire, you're rather late today, not as late as Hatter of course…" The lady said in a voice of black velvet, disapproving and bored, but seeming all the more beautiful, "and- oh, good grief! What have you dragged in from the gutter this time?"

Julius untangled himself from Alice and swiped the smile from his face, replacing it with a haughty smirk as he looked over at the rabbit-man as he bowed politely. "Forgive my lack of punctuality, milady, by no means did I do it to halt this peace-offering in its tracks, but, you see, I've caught myself an Alice." He announced proudly.

The woman raised one perfectly shaped, skeptical black eyebrow. "Have you now? Tell us, Cheshire, just where did you find this supposed 'Alice'? In the garbage bin behind the amusement park?" She snickered and waved her thin hand dismissively. "This is the tenth 'Alice' you've brought back, Cheshire."

Julius tensed at her mocking voice, the fur on his tail and atop his ears spiking. "Excuse my boldness, your majesty, but I do believe you are wrong. _That_ is an Alice," he shot his broken claw at Alice and raised his head high, a spark in his defiant eyes. "What would you like me to do with it?"

"We would _like_ you to take it back to its home and discard of it. However, we have the feeling you shall not listen to our will again regarding this matter lest the guards drag you by those vicious claws of yours straight to the guillotine."

His fur smoothed and he shrugged nonchalantly. "I do suppose you're right, my Queen."

The cat-man had had the same mood swing that Alice's parents used to have, but in a matter of seconds rather than hours.

She fisted her hands tightly; fingers curled with anger, she wondered what would happen if she simply reached her hand forward to the left and pulled the cat-man's tail as hard as she could.

Would it hurt him or did it not have nerves inside? Was it even real?

The Queen rubbed her fore-finger between her charcoal brows as though she had a migraine. "Cheshire, this one does not even look like an Alice. Has the Caterpillar been giving you something more for your pain, or have you simply gone mad?"

"A little bit of both," Julius said with a crescent grin, his sharp teeth nearly glowing. "But, I'd much rather have that discussion with you in private, if you must know, milady. I'd rather not frighten the Alice before she's put to use."

The Queen's brows furrowed deeply as her eyes darkened. "This Alice is of no use to you, or us." Quiet murmurs started among the crowds of card guards and on-lookers. "Not even Hatter would associate himself with that abomination- if she does anything at all, Cheshire, it will be for the worse; I guarantee you she will not only hurt you, she shall hurt all of Atropos!"

"Then she shall not be of any use to her majesty's court?" Julius asked with a gleam in his melting eyes.

The Queen hesitated, unsure of what to say to the notoriously despairing being bowing down below her. Liquid golden eyes looked up, flicking from herself to Alice and back, waiting to pounce on their prey and capture it as soon as the syllables slinked from the Queen's mouth.

She cleared her throat of lumps and shifted in her throne. Sitting straight and tall, her lacey crimson gown billowed out around her. "That is right."

"Then, if she is of no use to the Royal Court, would you not agree that this Alice is to be disposed of properly?"

The Queen swallowed the uneasy ball in her throat once again. "I am not quite sure I want to know, but just what are you planning to do with it, Cheshire?"

"All I am asking for is a simple yes or no, madam."

Alice's head began to whirl with the disconcerting silence that followed Julius' silkily serious purr.

Just as the Queen opened her ruby lips to respond, his entire frame began trembling; shaking harder and more violently with every passing second that everyone stared, frozen, as he fell to his knees.

Hacks and heaves echoed in the enormous room; a hellish red clumpy liquid poured from Julius' mouth onto the snow white floor ruthlessly, taking his ability to swallow the air, which he so desperately gasped for, away from him. One arm wrapped around Julius' stomach and his other hand grasped his throat, as if he were trying to force the blood to stop spilling out.

Painful tremors rocked through his body, forcing his eyes shut, as the Queen snapped out of her shock and shrieked, sending the card guards to get a doctor. She shot up like a jack-rabbit from her throne and stumbled over the length of her dress; running down to Julius Cheshire's flailing body.

Carefully and gently, the Queen took Julius' hand from his throat where a bruised ring had formed and held it down; doing the same to the one that clutched his stomach.

She cringed as his blood poured onto one of her sleek black shoes and the warmth of it soaked in. She held Julius' head still as his body kept on its spasm and glared hatefully at Alice.

"You…" she growled. "Get away! You see what you've done? Get away from us- get away from here. We do not want you; you're making things worse- leave!"

Alice did not bother to look at the Queen. She barely registered her words; eyes locked on Julius, her feet had locked themselves into place. The clumped up red vomit covering the floor was creeping slowly towards her as small salty tears snuck down her cheeks.

Her terrified wide eyes trembled while her knees shook, threatening to collapse into the crimson carpet slinking beneath her feet.

Guards' footsteps clomped on the floor as they ran towards the Queen, carrying a rather gorgeous boy in the prime of his youth sleeping underneath a blanket of amethyst Honesty flowers atop a velvet body pillow. A lilac spray of petals floated to the stained ground in their wake, sending a new, much more pleasant scent to mix in with Julius Cheshire's blood. The boy stirred as the card guards dropped his resting place to the floor with a _smack_! and his leg, clung to by tight black leather, kicked out from underneath the beautiful flowers and landed in the warm maroon river that was slowly soaking into his pillow. He flipped himself over, grabbing handfuls of petals and burying his face into their lilac spray as a stubborn sixth grader who was unwilling to wake up for school would. Edgy, long electric blue hair was mussed into a blotched Honesty petal mess by his pallid hands as he ran fine fingers through it and snapped open startling satiny silver eyes. The boy slowly lifted himself from his makeshift bed and yawned, letting himself fall back to the smooth surface and picking himself back up once again. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around. He dipped his hand in the ocean of blood beneath him, contrasting obscenely with his near snow-white skin, and let out an aggravated sigh. "The cat is having a wee spat, I assume." He spoke in a voice of pure ice, bringing his bloodied fingers to his nose and inhaling before shaking the clingy liquid off. The boy pushed himself up on long and slender legs. He yawned once more and stretched his arms to the sky, sending the black button up dress-shirt covering his chest higher than it should have been.

He loosened the top two buttons and knelt down into the crimson flood next to Julius and the Queen, placing a hand on Julius's forehead. His face bared little to no expression as he looked up from Julius' pale, sweaty face to the Queen's. "For goodness sake, the cat doesn't even have a fever, yet you woke me from my nap?"

The Queen did not face him, her concerned eyes locked on the shaking Julius. "Just give him some medicine to stop this seizing!"

The boy shrugged subtly and pulled a spiraled glass vial filled to the cork with aquamarine liquid from the pocket of his shirt and clenched his teeth around the wooden plug, pulling it out and spitting it to the side. He grabbed Julius' mouth, held it open, and simply dumped the slimy concoction in and harshly punched his fist against Julius' lower jaw, sending it slamming against the top.

Then, for thirty frozen seconds, everything and everyone in the great court was silent.

The Queen waited with gnawing, growing anxiety; she shifted her glance quickly from the boy to Julius until his body eventually stilled all together except for the rhythmic up and down of oxygen coming in and leaving his chest. The constant bloody vomit slowed to a trickling stream of red from the corner of Julius' mouth before stopping completely.

"Let the cat rest in one of the palace rooms," said the boy as he stood and looked down, annoyed, at his blood-soaked leather bottoms, "his body will need to regenerate the blood it's lost. Frankly, that cat should be dead right now." He mumbled.

The Queen gave him an earned cool smile. "Many thanks; your knowledge is very much appreciated." She turned away and strutted to the nearest female servant, leaving a bloody trail behind as she stepped out of the river. "Sheila! Help me change, and have somebody do something about that 'thing'!" the Queen commanded, thrusting a pointed finger at Alice.

The boy cocked his head slowly to the side and followed the Queen's glare- only then did he notice the shaking little girl who was falling apart at the seams not twenty feet away from him.

A curiosity took over his bored look and he straightened himself as the guards and maids began fetching cleaning supplies. He strode over to where Alice crouched, eyes wide with the terror of whatever it was she had just witnessed. The boy noticed that the ends of her hair were being swooshed underneath Julius Cheshire's blood, and that she either didn't much care or had not noticed. Tear stains drew themselves into long, broad lines against her reddened skin like raindrops racing to the bottom of a window pane and she made no move to acknowledge the boy as he drew nearer.

Keeping a good cautionary distance between himself and Alice, he bent himself in half and crouched as she was, trying to see past the raven's hair that was shrouding her face. The boy wondered with a terrible curiosity what such a weak looking creature could have done to anger the Queen so dreadfully…. And why, if her majesty had been so terribly enraged by the small little girl, had she not simply sent her to the guillotine?

Unsure of what exactly he sure was supposed to do next, the boy looked around the court and found that everybody was keeping a rather large cube of space between themselves and the shuddering girl. He chewed his lip, nervousness snaking its way into the back of his mind.

What was so wrong with this girl?

He reached a hand out and placed it lightly on Alice's shoulder, giving her a slight shake. When she didn't respond, the boy frowned gave her another shake.

Still, she didn't acknowledge the slightest bit of his presence.

He reached into the back of his leather trousers and pulled out a bottle of brown liquid. His own nose wrinkled at the foul dead-cat smell and placed it under Alice's nostrils.

Within a few seconds her eyes came down from their clouded, shocked state and she yelped as she inhaled the odor.

The boy cocked his head of blue hair at her, a puzzled look on his pretty face. "Miss, are you alright now?"

Alice simply stared at him.

He stood and looked around again at the wide birth the maids were giving themselves from Alice. The awkwardness was worn plain on his face as he glanced back to Alice and cleared his throat. "You should get out of here, dear. It does not seem as though you're particularly welcome."

"…I don't know how." She whispered- her eyes locked on the beautiful silver of his.

He chewed his cheek and extended his hand warily out to the girl in front of him. "Well, that is a problem now, isn't it? Hanley Pillar; _who_ are _you_?"

"Alice L-" she stopped, the name catching in her throat as Julius Cheshire's words echoed in her mind. '_Just Alice now, I guess, as the Liddell's are gone.' _"Alice."

"Are you really now?" Hanley's eyebrows elevated. "I've never heard of a black-haired Alice before. Perhaps that's why the Queen is having such a crow." He mumbled to himself.

Just like Hanley, Alice wasn't exactly sure what she was supposed to do in this situation and so she slowly raised her hand and placed it in his.

Hanley flinched and nearly jerked away, but he restrained himself; afraid that if he rejected this tiny shuddering creature that she'd fall apart. "Mother of Nyx- you're skin is burning! Are you unwell, Alice?"

"I've been better," she answered timidly as she pulled herself up from her safe position, "but I think I'm alright."

Though she was standing now, Alice still had to tilt her head far above a normal angle to look him in the eyes. He was so tall, and his figure so perfectly built yet so slender. He was a living, breathing masterpiece, something not even the likes of Da Vinci could create.

Hanley cleared his throat, uncomfortable with the silence as Alice stared up at him, and withdrew a shiny brass and jade cigarette holder from his shirt and lit it up with a snap of his fingers and a tap on the end.

After a long drag he looked away from Alice, but didn't take his hand out of hers. Hanley wasn't used to having the attention from one small girl force him to take out his quellazaire.

He'd always been on the receiving end of jealous stares and compliments since the beginning of his life, especially from women, but none had ever given him such an intense look as Alice. It had his nerves racking up and plumes of purple berry smoke trailing through his lips faster than ever before.

But the pace that the once-delicious blueberry smoke was running away from his taste buds at left a bizarre aftertaste of coal that made Hanley want to gag. It was disgusting, but he couldn't stop exhaling as soon as the violet smoke entered his mouth.

After a few more minutes of silent coal tasting smoke, Hanley looked back at Alice. "You said earlier that you didn't know how to get out; what did you mean by that?"

Alice blinked, coming out of the trance the beautiful boy had put her in, and tried to remember when she had said. "Oh, yes, right." She cleared her throat and took her hand away from Hanley's, feeling a little bit lonely as his smooth touch left her skin. Just a little bit. "Well, I meant that I didn't know how to go home."

"And why is that?" Hanley paused, the realization dawning on him like ice water being poured from a waterfall onto his head that the Queen would soon be back from changing, and if this girl was still in her courtroom she'd drag her to the guillotine herself. "Never mind that for now," he said hastily, you are alright to walk, I presume?"

Alice stayed voiceless, not knowing how to explain to this perfect man why she knew she wouldn't be able to _stand up_ let alone waltz herself out the door.

Hanley wondered what was so wrong with Alice once again as he took her arm and wrapped it around his shoulder. "Then please hold onto me if need be, Miss Alice."

"I swear to Nyx, Pillar, I'll stab you straight through your stone heart right this moment if you don't remove your filthy hands from my Alice," Julius' voice rang out in a ghastly echo.

His heart beat lurched and sputtered for a moment as he turned his head slightly.

Julius Cheshire lay on the floor, wide- awake; silently threatening any maids or guards that tried to move him with his sharp eyes, he stretched out his hands above his head and examined his shattered claws for a moment.

Hanley watched along with the thousands of other eyes in the court in astonishment.

The damn cat should have been out- out for at least a few days! Had he poured the wrong medicine down his throat?

"Oh, bloody hell, why?" Hanley cried languidly. "_Why_ are you awake?"

Julius scoffed, not daring to move yet as his head pounded. "Are you sober? I've been conscious this entire time, Pillar, and there is no way someone in their right mind could swallow something that tasted like dead bugs while conscious." He sighed listlessly, "then again, none of us are in quite our right minds here, isn't that right? Maybe I'm going sane, for that would explain why I swallowed almost an entire drop of that poison, wouldn't it?"

"So you didn't drink it all?"

"Have you not been listening?"

"I tend to block out your voice when you go on rants," Hanley mumbled as he took his arm from Alice's back.

She stumbled a bit, ultimately landing back on the floor in a sway of dizziness.

After a moment of bickering, Julius pushed himself up from the marble, denying all help from anyone and looked down at himself. He frowned at his red-stained clothing before striding quickly over to Alice, possessively putting himself in the way of Hanley's view and range.

"Dearest Alice, I'm so dreadfully sorry for you to have witnessed this scene of madness- ah! You're covered in blood, why are you covered in blood- why are you sitting on the floor? Dear Nyx did that caterpillar do something to you?" Julius hissed. The hair on his ears and tail spiked as he glared hatefully at Hanley. "What did you do while I was resting?"

Hanley just stared at him, arching one eyebrow. "Cheshire, though I hate to ask anything of you, I have to request that you go rest some more and recover completely; you're acting ridiculous- even for you."

His glare held. "And just what do you plan to do with _my_ Alice whilst I am asleep?"

"I plan to return her to her home," he said with a shrug, "nothing more-"

"Then I refuse to recover!" Julius snapped, tensing his claws. "Even if you had a remote sense of direction I would still refuse to recover! Even if the Queen herself were to demand it I would _still_ refuse to let you take her home!"

"You're being ridiculous," Hanley repeated.

"Am not. Besides, there is no home for my Alice to return to."

"And just what does that mean?" Ina matter of silent seconds, Hanley's jaw dropped in disbelief and his silver eyes burned red as he tried to glance at Alice. "You moronic imbecile!" he shouted angrily. "_Again?_ What is wrong with you! We don't want to play Wonderland again simply because you've become bored- what are you going to tell the old role-holders?"

"What do you mean '_old'_. They aren't _old_, you coot!" Julius blew out a heavy breath- he didn't want to be fighting right now. Usually fighting with Hanley Pillar was the highlight of his days, but not when his head was threatening to cave in on him. "Not one of us is old- we're still referred to as our roles, are we not? Besides, the Queen has agreed that she is of no use to the court and so Alice is mine to do as I please with and I please to start Wonderland again."

Hanley scowled at him, shoving his quellazaire between his lips. "She doesn't even look like an Alice."

A slow, sly crescent smile grew from ear to ear on Julius's amused face. "Well, that's not a bad thing, is it now? It might give the role-holders the will to…change the story a wee bit?" Hanley felt as though he was going to drop dead from that prospect as Cheshire lifted Alice from the floor like she was an infant and inspected her for any damage that might have been done. "Unharmed, as far as I can see, but we'll have to do something about your clothing- perhaps we'll go see Mary Ann, you look about the same size as her…?"

Hanley shook his head slowly. "I don't want to live on this planet anymore," he mumbled, "at least not if that cat is going to live very much longer." In a louder voice that was audible to Julius, he continued, "How do you think the Hatter is going to react?"

He shrugged. "Don't know, and I shan't know. He will hear by word of mouth from the Hare, I assume, for I'm certainly not going to be the one to tell him." He snickered sadistically. "Oh, but his expression is going to be priceless! Remind me to sneak into that Mafioso's mansion and set up a hidden camera!"

Hanley shook his head again. "He'll know it was you, and you can bet that he'll beat you to a bloody pulp when he finds you."

Julius cocked his head of blood-drenched hair to the side with a sly smile as his body began to fade into air for a moment like a cloud of smoke. "But how will he find me if, even in my weakened state, I can still do this, dear Hanley?"

Alice looked between the two arguing men, growing wearier with every syllable that spilt from their lips. The prospect of being held in the arms of a stranger hadn't even registered in her mind yet, let alone the fact that they were the arms of the stranger who had burnt down her house and, presumably, slaughtered the only two people she'd been able to call family.

And although it was by the being that took everything of what she had from her, the feeling of strong arms holding Alice together was welcomed by her body. So long had she yearned for the warmth of another to hold her that it didn't matter who it could have been anymore.

With one a loud, defensive cough Julius shifted Alice into one arm and covered his sensitive nose. "Do you mind? I'm not very fond of that odor."

"Really now? I'm very fond of the scent." Hanley smiled sweetly at Alice. "Don't you find the smell rather appealing?"

She nodded her head slightly; using what energy she had left, not wanting to be rude with her silence. There wasn't anything about the smoke's scent that she could find to dislike. It was so…calming. And as she took a big breath of it, Alice decided that she might have liked whatever Hanley was smoking more so than her own cigarettes if she were to ever be invited to try his pretty quellazaire out.

Julius frowned down at Alice in disappointment. "But it makes it difficult to breathe for most people, I included, so would you mind putting it out?"

"Who, might I ask, are most people?"

He raised one thin eyebrow. How was he supposed to answer that? "Well, about half of the world, I would think?"

"Ah, so you are acquainted with fifty percent of this world?" Hanley snickered and his patronizing tone made the hair on the back of Julius's ears stand up- he'd sounded much too much like the hatter for his taste.

"Obviously not-"

"Then your words are less than utterly useless. You do not know half of the world, so you cannot speak for half of the world's tastes. Therefore, you cannot request for me to put out my quellazaire because-"

"Will you just please put the damn thing out!" Cheshire cried in annoyance.

With a roll of silver eyes, Hanley put his quellazaire back in his shirt. "Anyway," he began, glancing at Alice's sleepy face, "I'm sure Mary-Ann would be delighted to have a roommate. Tell me, Miss Alice, you wouldn't happen to have any objections to sharing a bed with another, would you? Of course said other would be a girl-"

"What are you saying?" Julius scoffed. "Are you forgetting why 'Mary-Ann' is even here? If you were to leave my dear Alice in her care she would surely eat her for supper!"

"Just because she threatened to eat _your _stupid brain doesn't mean she would mercilessly devour Alice." Hanley snickered and nodded to Alice. "Besides, the poor girl's about to pass out. She will doubtlessly be denied a room or even a simple bed here in the Queen's domain, and no one else in Atropos would ever offer hospitality to an unfamiliar girl- they are not to be blamed, though, she could be working for the White Rabbit for all they know right now."

"Well, what about the Hatter's mansion? A few in his syndicate owe me for all the felonies they've racked up in my name."

Hanley arched a thin, silver eyebrow. "Do you really believe that the Hatter would allow that? Is your mind still delusional from your attack?"

"No more delusional than it was before." Julius shifted Alice in his arms into what he thought would be a much more comfortable position for her if she was to decide to sleep. "She would be safer with that Mafioso than with Mary-Ann, though, surely he wouldn't dare hurt a woman."

Hanley gaped at the stupid cat, not knowing just where he got his information from and not particularly wanting to know. "That madman does not discriminate based on gender, you stubborn feline- even if he did, Alice is a little girl, not a woman; he wouldn't be interested in letting her stay in his home at all."

"Alice, I'll have you know, is nearly sixteen. She is just a little…weak from the stress her family posed on her."

"My point was the Hatter won't be interested in such a young girl."

Julius's eyebrows peaked like the rising sun. "You don't even know how old he is and, anyway, I still say we bring her to the Hatter's."

He sighed and scowled, his eyes locking on the near-sleeping girl in Julius' arms. Was she really nearly sixteen? She looked so frail... "You're stubbornness is disgusting- do what you want with her but if the Hatter turns you away, I won't let you forget it."

* * *

Alice's brain was scorching, turning over and in on itself while it tried to remember just what had happened last night after Julius Cheshire and Hanley had finished arguing and how she had gotten to where she was.

Looking up from her place on the floor, Alice saw that grand chandeliers of jade hung from a mirrored ceiling, fashioned much like the ones in the Queen's courtroom had been and the walls seemed to be made of distorted glass that could be broken under the weight of a pin. The room had been emptied of furniture sometime before she had gotten there- that much she could tell from the indents on the wooden floors, but what her mind wondered was why? Nothing but a wrecked painting adorned the empty room. Very, very beautiful the portrait had once been, indeed, but now it was marred with nail marks and red splotches. Now, blackened skin and hollow eyes had scraped the girl's beauty away until her looks portrayed an obscure demonic figure.

She stared hard at it, pushing herself to her feet. She tried to think of a reason anyone could possibly have for destroying such a lovely woman.

"Picturesque things are, tragically, quite often prone to mutilation, are they not?" a dark voice lilted.

Alice swung around sharply, very nearly falling to the cold floor again.

A tall, good-looking man in a black waistcoat and blood red dress shirt smiled curiously at her. Mussed charcoaled hair hung in sharp layers, brushing over one of his gorgeous emerald eyes. A hat of dark velveteen sat on his head, a card with 10/6 scrawled on it was tucked into a green sash.

He tipped his hat and strolled over to Alice. "I must say, you look nothing like the previous Alices."

She raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow. "And who are you?"

"Much scrawnier than the others," he eyed her thick eyeliner and choppy black hair, twirling one of his fingers into it, "and much…darker. Alice, is this your natural hair?"

Alice cringed at how close the heat of his hand was to her skin as he played with her hair, not knowing what she was to do in this situation. Yelling out Stranger-Danger, kicking the man in the gut and making a run for it came to her mind for a moment, but danger radiated from him with the scent of roses and gun powder.

_He could probably out-run me in no time…_ she thought.

Alice cussed him out loud and jerked the ribbon of her hair out of his hand.

The man chuckled, patted her head like she was a toddler and crossed his long arms. "Much feistier, too."

She felt like punching him square in his pretty face. "What the hell are you on about?"

He simply ignored her and strode closer to the painting. He laid his hand on the woman's cheek tentatively and sighed "Disappointing, isn't it, how such exquisite beings can be muddied so savagely until one cannot see the original object anymore?"

Alice opened her mouth to repeat her questions but sputtered. Her mouth faltered, annoyance building up inside her. With a few deep breaths in and out, she finally managed to repeat her first question. "Who the hell are you?"

"Title or name?"

"Name."

"Which name?"

She stared at him, vexed, her fist twitching with an eagerness to meet the man's face. "How many names do you have?"

The man smiled, amused at her irritation and tossed his hat to the floor. "That, dear, depends on who you ask."

"I'm asking you!"

"Well in that case, Ares Diablos is my name." His lopsided grin died down into a smirk as he cupped Alice's cheek in his palm. "More commonly known as the Hatter."

She stiffened at his proximity.

"You haven't eaten for quite awhile, have you?" he murmured the words softly, cautiously, as if afraid of someone else hearing them. Alice's eyes widened and he snickered. "It won't do for you to collapse while under my watch, so won't you participate in tea-time later?"

Ares' voice sent a shiver down Alice's spine. Each and every syllable was voiced with the voice of an English gentleman. His tone, though, screamed out a warning that told how mutilated her body would be when it was found at the bottom of a lake should she not comply.

But, how was Alice supposed to keep down any tea he gave her?

Ares shook his head at Alice's worried icy eyes as her frail body trembled lightly with concern. She was nothing like the last Alice, or the one before that.

Small and shuddering, eyes downcast. She stared at the shining wooden floor with the complexion of Snow White staring back. Storm clouds gathered in her icy eyes.

Anxiety had welled deep inside Alice's chest, her stomach queasy.

He reached out a hand to steady her but Alice jerked away immediately. "Where am I?" she demanded, her voice shaking just as hard as she was.

Ares arched one black brow at her before shrugging. "Where do you wish to be?"

She glared at him, her fist twitching again. "You know, you're really a piss-off," Alice growled.

He simply shrugged again and clucked his tongue. "Insults will get you nowhere here, Alice."

"That's nice, but where is here?"

The Hatter smiled a smooth smirk at her and walked quickly in dizzying circles, sweeping his feet across the floor with his lips humming an aggravating tune. "Well," he began as he pointed his right index finger upwards and his left one downwards, "here is below up there, but above down there."

Alice groaned- Ares was making her brain want to cry. "Would you kindly just give me a simple name?"

"I'm afraid that I can't do, Alice for this place does not have a name. It used to have a name, but then you came, and now it is merely your escape."

She shook her head- the man was clearly crazy. Crazier than herself, maybe.

Slowly, Ares stopped circling her and suddenly grabbed Alice's thin waist, pulling her into his chest. Alice lurched at his touch and he whispered, "Alice, I have to ask you, why did you come at a time like this?"

Melting out of her frozen shock rather quickly, she squirmed and struggled against his iron grip but to no avail. "I'm sorry?"

Ares held her with a force that didn't seem human- it was harsh, but gentle. Mean, but kind. "Alice, oh, Alice…why have you come now?" he asked again. "I've been living such a peaceful life- now the game will start again." He moaned. "The ticking clocks have stopped and soon the Queen will start her rampage, darkness shadowing each chapter's page."

She just stared into Ares' chest, unable to move from the confusion swirling inside her head. "Did you take your medication?"

Ares pushed her away harshly, looking down at her with annoyed, darkened eyes. "Medication? There is no medication for insanity, Alice. Even if there were, there wouldn't be enough to go around as everybody is insane here. At least they will be now that another 'Alice' is here."

Alice stumbled, trying to regain her balance. "Really, now you're just being stupid. If everyone is mad here, that means I'm mad too and if here is there then that is everywhere. If everywhere is anywhere that would make the whole world 'There' and if here is 'There' or 'Anywhere', that would mean every other world would be completely mad as well. If the whole of every world is insane, and thinks the same way, that wouldn't make the universe crazy- it would make us all just very, very sane."

Without missing a beat, un-stunned from her though process, he responded, "Logic will get you nowhere now, Alice." Ares mimed out a window, and with a snap of his fingers, it materialized. He nodded towards it. "Take a look outside. Tell me if you think anybody out there looks like they would be willing to listen to your so-called logic."

She just stared at him for a minute before walking towards him again and peeking out the strange mirror.

Dust and cinders filled the air around her as she stepped in front of it, flowing into her lungs as soon as she took a breath. Hacking violently, Alice kept looking.

Strange, hollow looking people wandered around mundanely, some running in circles while others ran into leafless trees and shattered rocks. Smoke lingered in the sky, zephyrs blowing through small children's tattered, terribly cut hair. Ashes littered the ground, weeping over what they used to be as people flung them at each other. Ruins were scrawled across the landscape as far as she could see and lightning bolted across the ground randomly, hitting many who just chortled with the pain.

With wide eyes, she turned to look at the Hatter, shocked. "Everyone really is insane."

"What did I tell you?" he tutted and snapped his fingers again, removing the window from existence. "Only the Role-Holders are sane, and, in this game, the sane are tortured if they're caught. Scarred with anything and everything that is incomprehensible to the sensible mind."

"How long has it been like this?" Alice breathed. "How long will they run around like that?"

"Until they're murdered." Ares answered grimly.

Alice tried to take in a steady breath. She really did, but, after seeing the sight she had seen, it was hard to keep her grip on herself. "By who? Can't they be put in a protection program or something?"

He chuckled. "No, Alice, they can't- but don't complain or feel bad for them, after all, this _is_ your fault."

She jerked in place and gaped at Ares, his face covered with a twisted sense of amusement. "My fault? How the hell is this my fault? I don't even know where this is!"

"Well, it may not be _your_ fault, but it is most definitely your fault."

As she stared at Ares in utter confusion, suddenly, black satin fluffed out around her, covering her tiny flannel tank top and two warm, ivory arms clung her own to her side and a silky voice whispered in her ear, "Don't let other men see you so sparsely covered."

On reflex, Alice snapped her head around in the direction the voice had flowed from.

Julius stood there behind her, shirtless, with a broad frown on his face. The light of the room glinted off his displeased eyes, reflecting Alice's disheveled appearance right back at her. Her hair was everywhere, and sunken cheeks testified to the damage not eating had done to her beauty. She tried to jolt backwards, repulsed by the red-eyed demon that squinted at her but Julius' iron arms kept her tightly in place.

Momentarily distracted by the reason she couldn't move, Alice looked back at Julius. Her eyebrows rose to the roof as she eyed his multicolored hair and ears- he looked so familiar to her- but where had she seen him before, if ever? "Do I know you?" she asked, a little uncomfortable with just how low this man's arms were.

Julius's scowl deepened, seeming as though it would be etched into his lovely face for forever. "Hatter," he began, ignoring Alice's question, "Remove your illusions before I snitch to the Queen about your recent treasons."

But seconds passed before obnoxious laughter rumbled from Ares' chest; he shook so badly with it that he lost his balance and fell to the floor. Julius stayed silent, waiting for him to get it all out.

After a few minutes of the fulsome racket the Hatter began to sputter and eventually quieted down, looking up at him with an amused look. "Please- you know as well as I that you would _never_ request an audience with the Queen for someone as petty as me…but, as you wish." With a clap of his hands and a painfully jeering grin, the mirrored walls that had shattered mere minutes ago flashed back into their rightful places, removing the make-believe insanity Ares had created.

"What are you trying to do?" Julius hissed at him.

He shrugged as if he were a bored child. "Well, I was hoping to drive her as mad as Mary-Anne so that she could have a playmate, but I don't suppose you'll allow that, will you?"

Slowly, Cheshire rose to his feet, his glare never leaving Ares' face. He brought Alice up with him, turning her around and buttoning his shirt around her tiny body without looking. "Let us leave, Alice." He murmured.

Completely and utterly confused, she simply blinked at him. "Do I know you?" she asked again.

"You do."

"How?"

"You just do!"

Ares chuckled. "Are you having a bad day, kitty?"

Julius's razor eyes landed on his again, cursing Ares. "I will shred you to ribbons."

He threw his hand to his forehead in well-practiced dramatic gesture and lay down, wiggling all over. "I'm shaking in my boots!" With a small chuckle, Ares brought himself to his feet where his six-foot-three frame easily towered over Julius. "Stop trying, kitty. You'll give yourself another attack- and we wouldn't want that, would we?" he smirked at him, twirling black hair around his finger. "I mean, you've already wasted seven of your nine lives- don't you think you should take it easy?"

"I can't afford to. Unlike you, I do my own dirty work."

"Still, running around after a frail anorexic _has_ to be hard on your body." He chuckled, wondering if today would be the day his little kitty finally snapped for him.

Julius just shrugged, burying his urge to slice Ares' pretty face open and dunk him in acid. "Say what you want, but I swear to all of Atropos, Hatter, if you install your damned illusions into Alice's mind one more time-"

"I know, I know," he cut him off; "I know the threat, Julius. It's the same thing every time I try to have a little fun around you."

He ignored him and began to walk, dragging Alice with him. "If you're feeling weak, feel free to lean on me."

_Easier said than done,_ she thought. He was much too tall for her to lean on without jumping and the pace Julius led her down towards the large wooden doors was much too fast for her short legs to handle.

Just outside, the hard grassy ground greeted Alice's face without mercy as Julius dropped her and she tumbled into a dug out mole's hole. She groaned as she rolled over onto her back, staring up at the starry night sky.

Julius stood above her, glaring down with those razor-sharp eyes. "What are you doing conversing with that man like he's a normal person?" he demanded. "Do you have any idea what would have happened if you'd interacted with the illusion? Do you have no brain? What the devil were you thinking-"

"Who _are_ you?" Alice interrupted, reflecting his glare right back at him. "Do I even know you? No, so what the _hell_ gives you the right to yell at me so loudly?"

A moment of silence passed by in the dark of night, a cold wind blowing in-between the two. Quietly, he dropped to his knees and sighed. "I'm sorry, Alice. Forgive me." He paused before continuing, like the words had gotten stuck in his throat. "Do you really not recognize me?"

She shook her head.

"I took you away from that hell hole you were living in, Alice." He grinned at her suddenly, brilliant glowing teeth shone in the darkness while she stared at him.

Alice sat up, squirming backwards a little bit further away from the smiling cat-man. "I'm…sorry? What?"

"As for the ones who were holding you, I do admit I lost my temper dealing with them even knowing how much you hate violence," he said as he shrugged nonchalantly and attempted closed the distance Alice had put in between them, frowning when she shrank back, "but they were _such_ a bore, you can't very well blame me, can you?"

Her chest tightened impossibly as Julius put one arm around her, admiring his newly-sharpened claws, shorter than they were but not broken anymore and sharper than ever before. "Y-you killed them, didn't you?" she asked in a fading whisper.

Her frail frame shook slightly, every cell vibrating underneath pallid skin and Alice's red eyes, wide with pin-point pupils stared into his as though the air around and between the two of them was encapsulating her.

Julius' ears twitched, his head cocking to the right in confusion. "You don't seem very happy, Alice. I imagined you'd be overjoyed."

She remained silent, unsure of what to say as a disgusting mixture of overflowing relief and dread crept over her. Alice passed a hand over her forehead as sweat began beading on her skin, a fire growing on her forehead as her gut screamed at her to get away- to run as far and as hard as she could to get away from Julius Cheshire but, as he touched her shoulder, Alice's mind breathed in a sense of familiarity and comfort and she decided against her stomach's trepidation.

**_Author's Note: _**_Hi guys! I'm new here to and also new to writing in general, so any reviews would be greatly appreciated! ^.^_

_Lemme know if you want to read more?_


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